


Defending Umbridge.

by glanmire



Series: In the villain's defence. [2]
Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-05
Updated: 2014-02-16
Packaged: 2018-01-07 15:09:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1121318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glanmire/pseuds/glanmire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's interesting to look at villains with an unbiased eye.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

You don't have a rich backstory. There is no reasoning behind your logic, nothing we can use to excuse your behaviour. You just seem to be purely evil.  
That is, until we examine your actions. 

Well, your most memorable physical characteristic is your love of the colour pink and kittens, and you dress accordingly. There is nothing evil about this in anyway, yet it evokes a gut-reaction of disgust in most. 

You could argue that some people just despise femininity, and that this is no different, but it's generally accepted that it's the contrast that people loathe, the hypocrisy of it; the smiling puppies and torture, pink ribbons and punishment. 

So before your personality was revealed, you were already on bad footing. 

Some of your early grievous offences include being rude to Dumbledore as he welcomed you to the school.  
Malfoy has been noted for ignoring Dumbledore's speeches too, but he does not get any backlash for it, unsurprisingly.  
But that is only the beginning. 

Then, you go inspect the other teachers. Bear in mind that this is your job, you are paid to do this. You decide to put two teachers on probation.  
One is clearly unqualified for the job, and seems to only have got in based on the fact that her great grandmother was good at the subject. That is not sufficient for you, nor should it be for anyone. You rightly do not understand why you are vilified for this. 

The second teacher is a man. He has put his students in dangerous situations, has paid no attention to the curriculum, and some of them have even confided in you, saying that he scares them. He has turned up to class bruised and bloody, and seems to relish in situations when his students are in danger.  
Putting him on probation was the sensible option, the reasonable thing to do. 

Some vouch for his character, but that's not important. You don't care how good of a person he is, you just want to know can he teach. Perhaps this is a shortcoming in you, but you don't see it that way. 

 

Some one needs to take control of this school, and you think it should be you. You seem to be the only one who can look at things critically, without romanticising the whole affair.


	2. Weeds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Umbridge sees Potter.

You do bad things, worse things. 

Dumbledore has let the school fall to ruin; students petrified, murderers on the loose, a student even killed last year - it doesn't bear to think about.  
Students have been horrendously bullied in classes, exposed to dangers and worst of all, not sufficiently educated in certain subjects to the standard they should be achieving. It's disgraceful, and yet everyone says Hogwarts is the greatest school there is. 

You are doing it for the benefit of everyone, this process which you have come to think of as weeding.  
Some might think dandelions are pretty, but they are weeds nonetheless and they need to be exterminated. This is your job, and you do it well.  
You imagine Hogwarts as your garden. It is dark and twisted now but you will crack open the skylight and let in the pure air in, clean out the rot and cultivate a garden with discipline and management.  
Weeds need to be destroyed, and flowers need to be segregated to grow better. The occasional leaf will need sniping, for the the good of the plant, even if it doesn't understand that, and you understand that. 

It wasn't always like this. For a period everything was glorious: you were the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, and a member of Wizengamot, and if Hogwarts had fallen into a state of neglect, it was far from your world, that little empire you had carved out for yourself, and it did not bother you. 

Then Cornelius came to you, and began to talk. He said what a valuable asset you were, how efficient and determined, and even ruthless.  
Well. We do not know. We can only contemplate, but these do seem like the things he would say to make you feel like you were irreplaceable, needed, brilliant.  
He told you about Hogwarts, how it had fallen into a state of disrepair, not only the building itself but the teachers and students too. He tells you this in a way that says that you could change this, you could make it so much better, but only you.  
You would have power, he tells you, Defence against the Dark Arts teacher, eventually the High Inquisitor, -and he may even have dared to float the idea of Headmistress- and most importantly, they would respect you. 

You agree, elated on self-righteousness, determination and fierce pride- we presume anyway.  
But now you are here, and it has not been quite what you imagined. You are utterly alone, save for the Daily Prophet in the mornings, like a friend from home, and constant owls to Cornelius, some kind of link between you and the world you once knew.  
You want to do this well. It cannot be a waste of your time, you cannot let all of this work go to rot, everything you have hoped for disapparate.  
You will have to discipline these halls. 

 

The plan is that by teaching basic defensive theory as opposed to more practical work, you and the Ministry hope to decrease the hold that Dumbledore has over his students, and educate them formally, and not on whatever whim takes you.

Admittedly, you are ruthless, but you are never cruel. Cruelty causes pain and suffering, and no one is suffering here. Are safer classrooms a hardship, and does making sure that teachers are competent cause undue distress?  
Yes, it could be argued that your punishments are brutal, but you wouldn't agree. Take Potter for instance, that highly aggressive young man who constantly undermines your work.  
The boy has shown severe behavioural problems throughout the years; misdemeanours include stealing, open defiance of basic magical laws, an unprovoked attack on his aunt, implication in the return of a mass-murderer, and presence at the tragic death of an exemplary student. 

He needs to be dealt with. You have many approaches that you could use, but it would be fruitless to attempt to convince him that his fervour and passion are misplaced, that his pride in Dumbledore is wasted and his righteousness frivolous. He has anger inside him and he will not listen. 

The Ministry explicitly states that Lord Voldemort had not returned and that Harry Potter's claims are only to garner attention for himself.  
What proof does the boy have, you ask yourself.  
He states that Cedric died at Peter Pettrigrew's hand; the same man who was killed years ago. He claims that the Dark Lord duelled him, but the echoes of his dead parents distracted He Who Must Not Be Named while he escaped.  
You do not need to explain why this story is not quite credible. 

The boy repeatedly lies. He says the Dark Lord sprouted from the back of a teacher's head, a likely story. He says that Sirius Black is innocent, his mass-murdering godfather.  
He says that He Who Must Not be Named is back, in an attempt to draw the limelight back upon himself by resurrecting his old enemy.  
You have read his file, the young Mr Potter. Orphaned at a young age, troubled upbringing, textbook stuff. 

How else then do we deal with weeds if they will not listen?  
Well, if they are choking everyone else, jeopardising the garden, then we deal with them swiftly and with force.  
The Minister agrees with this approach, and you would rather listen to the highest figure of authority rather than the ramblings of an old man who can barely run his school anymore.

And so you deal with the problematic student, because he must be taught not to tell lies.


	3. Control

Things fall apart.   
You are constantly disrespected for your efforts. Even your fellow teachers- your subordinates actually- openly defy you. 

The students hold a meeting in a bar- a bar! The impudence of it!- and they discuss you, how awful you are. One student, reports say, impersonates you. The disrespect is appalling.   
Under the guidance of Potter and his crone Granger, the students are rallied to the cause of defending their school, of teaching themselves dangerous magic.   
Threats are even used, implying to maiming of a student at the hands of an object from Dervish and Banges.   
The students call themselves Dumbledore's Army. The audacity of it nearly hurts- they are practically begging you to expel them for conspiring to overthrow you.  
Although you attempt to quash the group, your efforts are ignored. 

You deliberately delay granting Gryffindor permission to play Quidditch, and it is a direct message to Potter. Look at the power I have, it says. I can destroy you, boy. Stop your pathetic attempts at resisting.   
But Potter continues. The entire nasty affair culminates in Dumbledore admitting that he directed the group, and was behind this failed rebellion. You attempt to have him seized but he attacks you, the Ministry officials and even the two students present as part of his escape.  
You are now Headmistress, and yet, Dumbledore's old office will not open its doors for you. You are now Headmistress, but you are not loved, not respected. You are Headmistress, and yet you feel powerless as ever. 

The disrespect escalates into outright attacks; a vicious Niffler is placed in your office and destroys your only sanctuary.   
Students are also somehow making themselves ill in your classes, and your only ally in this madness is a weak squib, the ineffective caretaker Filch.   
Back at the Ministry, you would have scoffed at the idea of allying yourself with a squib- only one step above Muggle-Borns in your book- and it rankles that you now are grateful for Filch's loyalty. How have you fallen so low, so fast? 

Potter, that insolent scum, against your direct orders for him to stop lying, gives an interview with a tabloid magazine, known for publishing blatant lies. The boy has a vicious imagination, and certain details go beyond ridiculousness; the Dark Lord arising from a cauldron, and then stroking Potter's face? It is a troubling description, and only serves to prove that the boy has terrible issues. 

The Weasley twins also cause havoc- and unbelievably decide to steal their brooms and fly away rather than continue their education.   
They must have had help; you cannot fly through the magical protection that surrounds the castle, it has to be lowered to pass through.   
A teacher must have aided their escape. You are being defied by those you are being to be ruling. 

You are failing, failing at the job you thought you could do, failing at the job Cornelius assured you would be easy.   
If you fail, it means another year here, in this hell-hole. The plan had always been that you would remain on as Headmistress for the years to come, but you cannot stand to think of that now. You despise Hogwarts, and what it has done to you.   
If you could just manage to wrangle control back, if you could make the place safe and controlled even just for a few months, then you would write to Cornelius and ask him to replace you to with someone else suitable- and quite a few other teachers too- and let you return to the Ministry. He has to understand that you simply cannot do this anymore, that you cannot face another year of this. He must understand.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why she feels justified in using an Unforgivable Curse.

Potter and the Muggle-Born Granger are in your office when you arrive.   
You ask him why he is here, though the answer is written plainly for all to see, as he kneels by the fireplace, and yet he lies and says he has come for his broomstick, a likely story.   
He doesn't even seem to understand how stupid he sounds. Falsehoods weep out of the boy's pores these days. You push him away, disgusted. 

The Slytherins, the only students who seem to have to come round to your methods, bring in Potter's accomplices.   
The Weasleys are the ones that catch your eye; siblings to those miscreant twins who ridiculed you publicly. These two share that blood, the same look. You remember that the bright young Percy is their elder brother. Now he is a shining example of how a Pureblood wizard can flourish in the Ministry. By contrast, these two show how Potter's foul influence can corrupt. The boy, Ronald, is a prefect, and yet he lied to you about Peeves' whereabouts in an attempt to distract you. A prefect, driven to lying to his Headmistress by Potter. Potter has some disturbing way of dragging others down to his level and ruining their chances, polluting them with his ramblings. 

You question them. What could be so important that they would risk expulsion? The possibilities shimmer in front of you; they wanted to talk to Dumbledore, who might be orchestrating a rebellion from outside Hogwart's walls. It might have been McGonagall, who could be helping the students to overthrow you so that she could take your place as Headmistress!   
\- You do not want the job for yourself anymore, but that does not mean you want it taken by force from you either. You will not relinquish your hold over Hogwarts to any Potter sympathisers, no matter how much you loathe it-

You send summons for Snape. As someone who is close to Lucius Malfoy and shares some of his ideals, Snape is the closest thing you have to a Ministry worker here. He has been useful so far anyway, and you hope that he will illuminate this matter. 

Disappointingly, Snape is utterly useless when he is brought to you, and it seems he deliberately withholds Veritaserum from you. Of course you had to use more than three drops on Potter! The lies are so ingrained into every fibre of that boy's being that three drops couldn't loosen the grip.  
Perhaps it was Snape all along who has been helping the students! Snape, who pretended to play the Devil's Advocate but all along was siphoning information off you to give to Dumbledore loyalists. You put him on probation until you can investigate into this further. There are more pressing matters that need to be dealt with first. 

This is more than simple school discipline. This is an issue of Ministry security. Dumbledore is a fugitive, wanted for assault, for inciting a rebellion against the Ministry and endangering civilians by backing Potter's lunacy. 

Everyone at the Ministry agreed that Potter - and Dumbledore to an extent- needed to be silenced. The boy needed to be discredited, for the good of the people, so that no one would ever believe his twisted lies again.   
You were the only one brave enough to act. You ordered the Demetors after him. You did it of your own free will, but that does not mean the idea came to you of your own accord. Hints might have been dropped, and surely someone noticed somewhere along the line. Questions must have been asked what a Ministry witch wanted with Dementors at some stage. But no one spoke out. They wanted this too. This was needed, and you were just the one who went and did it, but you feel your actions represent the entire Ministry. 

Now that you think on it further, it could have been Black, his godfather, that Potter wanted to speak to. Black the mass-murdering maniac who helped his fellow prisoners out of Azkaban in January, murderers and torturers the lot of them.   
In times of war, Aurors were allowed use Unforgivable Curses. This is a war, a war between you and Potter. Potter stands for all that is ugly in the wizarding world, and just this once, isn't it worth it? One boy, who deserves punishment anyway, getting a little bit hurt is nothing, nothing in the scheme of things. His pain is nothing if it will help you catch the Death-Eaters, catch Black, catch Dumbledore. You believe that in this case, the curse is in fact forgivable, and so as you begin to say Crucio, you know that Cornelius would approve.


End file.
